Man set free after 19 years in jail

COURTS

Updated 11:17 pm, Tuesday, September 25, 2012

John Edward Smith and grandmother Laura Neal. Smith spent 19 years in jail for a murder he didn't do.

John Edward Smith and grandmother Laura Neal. Smith spent 19 years in jail for a murder he didn't do.

Photo: Uncredited, Associated Press

Man set free after 19 years in jail

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Los Angeles --

A former gang member imprisoned for 19 years for a murder he didn't commit has been exonerated and set free.

John Edward Smith, wearing glasses and a tan striped polo shirt, walked out of a Los Angeles County Jail on Monday night and was greeted by a host of TV cameras.

"I had good days and bad days, I stayed hopeful and that's all I could do," Smith, 37, said outside the downtown jail. "I'm not bitter at all, because that ain't going to get me nowhere. I've got to move on."

Smith said he was looking forward to "going home and seeing my grandmother," 79-year-old Laura Neal, who raised him. Family members drove him to her house, which she had mortgaged to pay for his initial defense, said Smith's lawyer, Deirdre O'Connor.

Earlier in the day, Neal used a walker to attend the hearing where a judge vacated Smith's convictions for murder and attempted murder in a gang-related drive-by shooting. She wept when Superior Court Judge Patricia Schnegg announced her decision.

Prosecutors told the judge they were convinced that the lone eyewitness to the 1993 shooting had lied at Smith's trial, naming him as the gunman. Smith maintained he was at his grandmother's house when the shooting occurred several blocks away.

After Schnegg announced her decision, the courtroom erupted in applause and shouts of "We love you" as Smith smiled broadly. The judge thanked the crowd for their "enthusiasm."